Communal Sanitation Solutions for Urban Slums

Last registered on September 03, 2019

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Communal Sanitation Solutions for Urban Slums

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0002101

Initial registration date

December 19, 2017

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

December 22, 2017, 11:19 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated

September 03, 2019, 5:36 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country

India

Region

Bhubaneswar and Cuttack within the state of Orissa

Primary Investigator

Name

Sharon Barnhardt

Affiliation

Centre for Social and Behaviour Change at Ashoka University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Judy Chevalier

PI Affiliation

Yale University Department of Economics

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Ahmed Mushfiq

PI Affiliation

Yale School of Management

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2011-05-01

End date

2019-04-30

Keywords

Finance & Microfinance, Governance, Health

Additional Keywords

Child Diarrhea, Sanitation, Preventive Health Products, Habit Formation

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

This project aims to create a scalable model of shared toilet infrastructure and management that can be replicated across cities to ultimately reduce open defecation and improve health among the urban poor. In doing so, this project aims to address the design, management and operational challenges of shared toilet facilities commonly found in and around urban slums of South Asia: shared toilets. We define these as toilet blocks serving a fixed population, or in other words: shared toilet facilities for residential areas. Our study location and government partners are the two largest cities in the eastern Indian state of Orissa: Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

External Link(s)

J-PAL evaluation summary

Registration Citation

Citation

Barnhardt, Sharon, Judy Chevalier and Ahmed Mushfiq. 2019. "Communal Sanitation Solutions for Urban Slums." AEA RCT Registry. September 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2101-2.0

Former Citation

Barnhardt, Sharon, Judy Chevalier and Ahmed Mushfiq. 2019. "Communal Sanitation Solutions for Urban Slums." AEA RCT Registry. September 03. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2101/history/52741

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The study has three types of interventions: demand generation, initial free pricing, and habit formation.

Intervention Start Date

2011-07-01

Intervention End Date

2019-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Usage of community toilets

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The overall objective of this project is to develop a replicable model for urban, shared toilets and provide rigorous evidence on its ability to significantly reduce open defecation.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Note: A slum cluster is a CATCHMENT AREA and may contain two facilities in such close proximity that they must be randomized to the same treatment.
For household-level randomizations (vouchers and reminders) we first use STATA to determine the number of households in each slum cluster that should get each combination of interventions (which are cross randomized), then we use a public lottery in each slum to assign those chits to households.
Randomizations at the slum-cluster and slum-cluster-gender level are done in our office using STATA to assign our demand generation and reward interventions.

Randomization Unit

We have three randomization units:
1. Slum-Clusters for Demand Generation (A slum cluster may contain two facilities in such close proximity that they must be randomized to the same treatment.)
2. Slum-Cluster-Gender for the Reward (hand faucet)
3. Household Level for Vouchers and Reminders

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Planned Slum Clusters for Demand Generation Randomization: 52
Planned Slum Clusters where we build toilet facilities: 52 (a total of 55 facilities being built)
Planned Households under study if 55 sites are built
2200 - if there are on average 40 households per site (55 * 40 = 2200)
2750 - if there are on average 50 households per site (55 * 50 = 2700)
3300 - if there are on average 60 households per site (55 * 60 = 3300)

Sample size: planned number of observations

Planned individuals under study if 55 sites are built: 6600 (if there are 2200 households) 8250 (if there are 2750 households) 9900 (if there are 3300 households)

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

For the 55 catchment areas in the demand generation trial, we have 27 getting a demand generation program and 25 not getting it, as that is the maximum number available across the two cities.

If we are able to build all 104 gender sides (52 male sides and 52 female sides) of toilets --
For the reward trial, we plan to have:
a. 26 that get a reward on the female side of the facility
b. 26 that get a reward on the male side of the facility
The result is that some facilities will receive rewards on both sides, some on the male or female side and some will not receive rewards at all.

Our interventions are stratified by slum, and start in batches. For e.g., as soon as a batch of toilet facilities is constructed, we launch our interventions in those slums. We don't know the exact sample size by treatment arms until we actually conduct our in-field randomization at each slum. If we get all 3000 households we would have approximately 500 in each treatment arm:
a. No voucher + Calendar
b. Free Voucher good every day for 45 days + Calendar
c. Free Voucher good MWF for 45 days + Calendar
d. No voucher + No Calendar
e. Free Voucher good every day for 45 days + No Calendar
f. Free Voucher good MWF for 45 days + No Calendar

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB